Well, hello there. I'm Alex, Director of Marketing over at Heuberger Motors in Colorado Springs. This year, our store is again sponsoring the Triple Crown of Running but this time there is a twist. We are also supporting the Pikes Peak Runners (aka Mighty Marmots). We're doing that a few different ways but since several of us at Heuberger are active types, we are doing it firstly through participation. I, like all runners on the team, have committed to running the entire series. So there's that.

Also, we have reached out to our friends at Salomon, Uphill Athlete and Gnarly Nutrition to help us set this year's Mighty Marmots up for success.

Uphill Athlete has provided the entire team with their excellent book, Training for the Uphill Athlete. The book is brand new this year and is written by Scott Johnston, Steve House and Killian Journet. If you google those names, you'll understand quickly why you ought to consider reading this book yourself if you want to get serious about your own endurance training. Additionally, the team has been granted access to Uphill Athletes mountain training workshop series in video format.

Salmon hooked the team up with shoes which is always welcome. You’ll never catch me making fun of women who hoard shoes–and neither should anyone else who spends a lot of time in the outdoors running, climbing, skiing etc. Mostly, I trail run and Salomon makes a dynamite trail shoe. If you’re lucky enough to have the kind of foot that takes well to Salmon shoes, my favorite of theirs is the Speedcross series for maximum traction in slippery conditions but they gifted the team with the Sense Ride 2. This is a new shoe to me and I’ve noticed some of my team mates have adopted it as their main shoe. I’m undecided how I like this shoe compared to the Speedcross but it seems capable and comfortable so far.

Gnarly Nutrition. Wow. Talk about generous. Gnarly has agreed not only to provide us with their Runner’s Stack, which contains BCAAs, whey (or vegan) protein and hydration powder–they have also offered to help educate us on the best use of these kinds of supplements for running. I’ve always kind of just believed in a keep it simple and let food be thy medicine approach to fitness nutrition, but now that I’m 46 and I work a lot, I’m finding that I don’t really practice what I’ve preached all that well when it comes to eating well. So I’m eager to learn more about my options for maximizing my nutrient intake to support the training volume prescribed by Uphill Athlete for my goals. We’ll be hosting a Facebook Live Q&A on July 3rd over on the Heuberger Facebook page. I encourage you to tune in to that and add your voice to the Q&A session if you want to learn more about this topic as well.

Beyond the Mighty Marmots, you’ll also find Heuberger with a booth at each event. Garden of the Gods is already behind us but people seemed to enjoy rolling out their tired muscles with our collection of foam rollers, matts, lacrosse balls etc. Don’t underestimate the power of some mobility work after a race! It really does help bounce back faster if you get after it right away. So come do that and maybe chat with us about your Subaru questions as well.

We’re working to help provide bodies to staff aid stations up on Pikes Peak for the Ascent and Marathon and we’ll lead out the Ascent and Marathon in the All-New-Subaru Ascent (see what we did there??)when the time comes just to make the event even more fancy. We love fancy.

I’ll be sharing highlights about my own training this season here on this blog but also over on Heuberger Motors’ social media and blog so give those a look if you want to know more about any of this stuff. Or just comment on these posts with your questions, and myself or one of this year’s other Marmots will try to fill you in.